Heaven
by Liebling
Summary: “Hermione,” Ron said suddenly. “I think Heaven will like you.” Harry, Ron, and Hermione talk about death, and the prospect of becoming ghosts. Sad, corny, sappy, sweet. Friendship fic.


Authors Note: Ron, Harry, and Hermione have a talk about death. And if they could, would they come back as ghosts? With Voldemort ever present it's a choice one or more may have to make...  
  
Warning: Sweet, sappy, corny, sad  
  
Disclaimer: Nada mine.   
  
OotP spoilers.  
  
~*~  
  
"Goblin's die."  
  
"Everything dies," Hermione snapped as she skimmed a book.  
  
Harry rolled his eyes at this and just continued to peer into the hearth. "Do you think about it much?"  
  
"What?" She asked, looking up from her book.  
  
"Death," he said, and his voice was hard and raw.  
  
"I try not to," she shivered. "But I guess it's the inevitable."  
  
"--maybe not," Ron added in hopefully. "There's always the ghost option."  
  
"Yeah, like any of us would ever take that route out?" Hermione added caustically. "Please."  
  
"Don't be so sure," Ron snapped.  
  
Harry looked at his redhead friend on the couch and his other friend on the chair.   
  
"What do you think, Harry?" She asked.  
  
"I guess, it's another chance at life, sort of, isn't it?"  
  
"It's like being empty inside," the girl explained. "But living, going on forever but with nothing to look forward to."  
  
Ron's mouth gaped slightly and he was lost in a reverie until he snapped, "and what would you know about it?"  
  
"Give me some credit," the girl said loudly. "For one, I speak to Myrtle, or rather, she speaks to me when I'm in the lavatory. And I read about these sort of things."  
  
"Do you?" Harry asked.   
  
"Yes," was the waspish answer.  
  
Harry sighed, "I want to see my parents."  
  
Hermione's heart almost skipped a beat, Harry never talked about his parents, and everyone knew that. Ron looked slightly interested and went back to toying with a Quidditch figurine.   
  
"I know," she whispered. He looked back into the hearth his emerald eyes focused on the flickering flames.  
  
"We could haunt the first years," Ron grinned.  
  
Hermione gave him a piercing stare. "No."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"No!"  
  
"Yes!"  
  
"Cut it out," Harry said, obviously exasperated.  
  
They stopped. Immediately.  
  
"Being a ghost, like living without a soul isn't it?" Ron inquired.  
  
"-I don't know much about it-"  
  
"-you just said you did!"  
  
"Get over it." She said. "I mean Sir Nicholas he still talks and takes off his head and such."  
  
"Something to look forward to aye?" Harry added.  
  
Ron nodded grimly.  
  
"Souls don't grow weary," Hermione said. "But still."  
  
"We could go see all the Quidditch matches forever, Harry," Ron said glancing over at his friend.  
  
"Yeah, yeah we could Ron."  
  
"That's not what life is though," Hermione said.   
  
"Your turn," Ron said. "Would you want to come back as a ghost?"  
  
She shook her head gently. "No." She put her book down on the marble floor. "I want to see what Heaven is like."  
  
Her eyes focused on the floor and she went on. "I want to see if thunderstorms really are just God having a party and if hail is God's candy wrappers. I want to see if Charlotte Bronte is up there. Oh, and if it's possible to waltz on clouds."  
  
Lost in her ruminations she brought a pale finger to her eye and wiped away a stray tear, "and I think it's just one of those things that people ought to experience. Like riding a broom-" the boys grinned "-or eating acid pops till you vomit. Except it's a bit different and new...and exciting"  
  
Harry made a move to put a friendly arm around her but she held out her hand as if to say 'halt.' "I'm fine, Harry."  
  
He sat back down on the threadbare rug and Ron exchanged 'are you okay?' looks with Hermione.   
  
"What about you, Ron?" She asked sniffling slightly.  
  
Ron took a long pause and hugged his knees. "It's hard," he admitted. "Because dying is forever. A ghost never gets to be a person again and it's like going through another life without being involved. And it never ends. Sort of like being in a nightmare, isn't it?"  
  
Harry nodded.  
  
"-but if I went before you two, I could be with you, so to speak."  
  
"Ron," she said, "you'll always be with us." She pointed to her heart and he smiled.  
  
"You need a visual reminder."  
  
They all threw back their heads and laughed from the belly. "Harry?" she asked quietly.  
  
Harry looked up and turned around to face them. He raked a hand through his ebony hair.  
  
"Never."  
  
She would have asked 'why not?' but he had already begun again. "Mum and Dad...and Sirius."  
  
Tears didn't spill, chests didn't heave he merely went on. A determined expression on his thin face. "They'll need me with them, sometimes I think they're the only people who have ever needed me. I'm in no hurry to see them-" he added hastily. "There's time for that later, way later."  
  
"I'll cry if you die," Hermione said. "I need you. Ron needs you. Merlin, Harry, all of bloody England needs you."  
  
Harry sighed.  
  
"Come here, boys," Hermione said as she stood up from the recliner and walked towards Harry. She offered him a hand that he took and Ron joined them in the center of the room.  
  
"You're my boys," she said thoughtfully as she took each one's hand. "And Heaven is great, I'm sure...but it can't compare to being here with you two, because nothing compares." She smiled and tears glazed her dark red cheeks. Ron squeezed her hand tightly and she went on. "Death can't melt hearts," she said as she nodded slightly.  
  
Ron wiped a tear away from her eye and they stood for a few moments. No one spoke.  
  
Harry's eyes bore into the hearth and he held Hermione's fragile hand tightly in his. Hermione looked down at her black buckle shoes and her puffy red eyes continued to produce tears. With his free hand, Ron fidgeted with his tie and his cheeks had turned an oddly pale shade.  
  
"Hermione," Ron said suddenly. "I think Heaven will like you."  
  
~*~  
  
La Fin 


End file.
